The team that finishes last in the NHL standings will have an 18.5 percent chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick, according to the official odds released by the league Wednesday. The Blackhawks, who are currently set to have the seventh-worst record in the league, would have a 6.5 percent chance of leaping to the top of the draft order if the season ended today.
Fifteen teams will miss the postseason and be entered in the lottery, which is set to occur sometime during the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The main prize will be Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who is considered the consensus No. 1 prospect in this year’s class. Brady Tkachuk, Filip Zadina, Andrei Svechnikov, Adam Boqvist, Quinn Hughes, Oliver Wahlstrom and Evan Bouchard are also considered potential top-10 picks for the draft, which will be held June 22-23 in Dallas.
The 2018 NHL Draft Lottery will consist of three drawings to determine the first three spots in the draft order. The odds are slightly changed from a year ago, when the Avalanche had an 18 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick.
The league has tilted the probabilities more heavily toward the worst three teams in the standings. At the moment, the Sabres are last in the NHL with 60 points, followed by the Canucks, Coyotes, Senators, Red Wings, Canadiens and Blackhawks.
2018 NHL Draft Lottery odds
No. 1: 18.5 percent
No. 2: 13.5 percent
No. 3: 11.5 percent
No. 4: 9.5 percent
No. 5: 8.5 percent
No. 6: 7.5 percent
No. 7: 6.5 percent
No. 8: 6.0 percent
No. 9: 5.0 percent
No. 10: 3.5 percent
No. 11: 3.0 percent
No. 12: 2.5 percent
No. 13: 2.0 percent
No. 14: 1.5 percent
No. 15: 1.0 percent
